Bomber attacks Pakistani intelligence agency

The city, near the Afghan border, has been targeted several times since the army began an offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan last month and militants stepped up retaliatory attacks.

A military spokesman said the bomber's target was the office of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. The blast brought down the front of the three-storey building and sent a thick column of smoke billowing over the city.

A wounded soldier said the bomber was in a type of vehicle that usually delivers medical supplies.

"All of a sudden it appeared on the wrong side of the road and began coming towards the office," the soldier, Nasir, told Reuters. "The guards opened fire but it came to the entrance of the building as the firing went on and exploded."

Nine people were killed and 55 wounded, provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters.

It was not clear how many people were in the building when the bomber struck at about 6:40 a.m. (0140 GMT), before the city's rush-hour.

"NEGATIVE NEWS"

Shortly after the Peshawar attack, a suicide car bomber attacked a police station near the northwestern town of Bannu, killing three policemen and wounding eight.

Bannu is a gateway to the North Waziristan, another major militant sanctuary on the Afghan border.

Security is tight across the country with numerous checks on roads and it was not clear how the bomber was able to approach the ISI office.

Militants who attacked army headquarters in Rawalpindi last month were dressed in army uniforms and travelled in a vehicle with military markings, reflecting an increasing sophistication in their attacks.

They were able to approach a gate of the sprawling headquarters complex but did not get through. Instead, they took hostages at a security office just outside the headquarters.

The army went on the offensive in South Waziristan lat month, aiming to root out Pakistani Taliban militants behind a wave of violence in urban areas.

The militants have responded with intensified attacks in towns and cities, killing several hundred people.

Stock market investors have been rattled by insecurity and the main index has lost about 5 percent since the offensive was launched.

The main index opened lower but was 0.20 percent higher at 8,941.99 at 0650 GMT in thin trade was thin.

"Interest is lacking mainly because of such negative news," said Mohammed Sohail, chief executive at Topline Securities, referring to the Peshawar attack.

In Baluchistan province in the southwest of the country militants attacked oil tankers taking fuel into Afghanistan for international forces there, police said.

Five tankers, which were parked at a truck-stop, were set ablaze and one driver killed in the latest attack in Pakistan on supplies bound for Western forces in Afghanistan. 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.